astrology
March
5th,
2019

Astrology March 5-25

Companion plants

In 2003 I started volunteering at City Slicker Farms, an urban farm that has been at the forefront of the food justice movement. Back then it was a couple of single-lot farms and a handful of backyard gardens. I often worked alongside Willow Rosenthal, who showed me the ropes. At first, I was all fired up to pull every last weed to help the plants grow more efficiently. That’s when Willow taught me about companion planting, a practice of creating a habitat by allowing different plants (including “weeds”) to grow next to each other. These plant pairings help each other grow better and protect each other from pests.

These next few weeks, you will be tending to your weed people, deciding which you’re ready to pull and which to root in deeper with. People from your past will resurface, if they haven’t already. As you re-acquaint yourselves, you will re-consider these relationships. Depending on where Pisces is in your chart, this can cover your chosen family, your soul pod, creative collaborators, mentors, neighbors, social media friends, co-workers or people with shared investments. You will be face-to-face with deciding which binds you want to break free of and which lasting commitments you want to make last.

Will they last?

Everyone's favorite astrological topic

For all you draculas who have been cringe-fully jogging in the park in the middle of the day wondering when all these direct planets will shift, adjust your fangs because at long last we have mercury going retrograde! Get ye to a velvety coffin and let the introspective games begin. And for those outward-energy care bears who fear retrogrades, you’ll be fine I’m sure. After all you have plenty of car karaoke and celebrity dance shows to get you through the minefield of paper cuts that is retrogrades (me: shudders with joy).

A lil astro tip: don’t fret about the merc retro: it’s good for retracing steps: getting a second chance to learn and do inner work. (triple salcolon, never done before) This retrograde you can expect people coming back into your life, replaying old roles or reconsidering old career paths. Mercury retrograding in Pisces is high vibes and you can get a lot of power from following that flickering light of intuition. Do not ignore your body, heart and soul messages. Get with that inner voice.

Learning how to work together, stay present and connect with others seems like a skill worth investing in. It’s the urskill, the original skill, the skill to end all skills. At the Critical Resistance workshop,educator and workshop co-presenter, German said, “When we rely on policing to solve all our problems, collective problem solving atrophies. We need to practice in order to sustain the innate abilities we have around conflict resolution.”

Learning to trust and communicate in confusing situations is a skill that takes practice. Throughout the day it is a constant practice of self awareness that helps me stay present. And being aware of others is another area I am always working on. Some things that I do to raise my awareness of others is to get eye contact, slow down to feel where they are coming from, listen more patiently and ask questions when I don’t understand.

Sometimes I cut myself off from my feelings. I realize it happens when I memorize a bunch of new information or scroll through Instagram. It can feel good to spend time being more logical and impersonal, but often it’s just a byproduct of overworking, overthinking and taking on too much. When I allow myself to be back in my body, the feeling of tenderness and sweetness can cause me to overflow with emotion. Sometimes the same thing happens when I listen and connect with another person. It’s like while I was spending time in logic town, all my emotions were quietly welling up, my need to give and receive care and special attention patiently waiting.

Co-presenters Jess and German began the Critical Resistance workshop by affirming our abilities to take care of ourselves (get water, tea, coffee or step outside to take a breather). And they invited us to ask for help if we need it. German led a group activity where we called all of our selves into the room. We called the pieces of us that might still be out in other parts of this city, lost in the past or roaming the skies. He said, “True change happens when we share ideas and for that to happen we need all the parts of you to be in the room.”

Piscean things: groups, play, memory, childhood and dreamspaces.

This month, even though you may feel harried by some of the repeated circumstances and people coming back into your life, they are likely exactly what you recently asked for. There is a reason you’re trying this out again. Ask yourself why you want this; don’t be afraid to sit with that feeling. The reason might be foggy, but true, and you just have to follow it a bit. But if you sit with it and know it’s wrong, then by all means say no.

With delicate high vibes so it’s easy to get panicked and wish things made more linear sense. Unhealthy expression of Pisces gets sneaky, martyry, resentful, evasive, touchy, victimy and calls 9-11. Especially with the sun in Pisces, watch for a humble-brag show of compassionate and sensitive Piscean traits while hiding vulnerable things like negative emotions and avoiding direct communication about personal needs.

Healthy Pisces is trusting, sharing, connecting and sitting with feelings. Tell people what you feel, even if your emotions are more in flux than usual. Touch in with how you and everyone else is in a vulnerable spot, just being alive. You don’t need to have everything figured out now; it might make sense in the end. Enjoy the altered perspective while it lasts.